Nebraska Beef Sues Lutheran Church Over E. Coli Outbreak

We admit that we give lots of air time to Bill Marler, the Seattle lawyer with one of the country’s leading foodborne-illness litigation practices. It’s just that (A) we can’t get over his wife’s vanity plate, (B) we’re interested in interesting niche legal practices and (C) his blog entertains us.

Today we find ourselves interested by this post. Earlier this month Marler sued Nebraska Beef and others on behalf of a Minnesota woman who died after eating a spaghetti-and-meatball supper at her local church. Today on his blog, Marler is apoplectic. “In one of the boldest, yet boneheaded, moves I have ever seen in 15 years of litigating E. coli O157:H7 cases, after we sued it, Nebraska Beef filed a third party complaint against the Salem Lutheran Church of Longville, Minnesota.” Adds Marler: “Nebraska Beef sues a church for serving its E. coli contaminated meat (that was also served in restaurants that people were sickened in too) – shame on you Nebraska Beef.”

Here’s the third-party complaint, which claims that a Minnesota Department of Health assessment of the church kitchen indicated that there was a high potential of cross-contamination between the ground beef and other foods during food preparation.” And in what keenly reminds us of first-year torts, Nebraska Beef says that the injuries sustained by the plaintiff were the direct and proximate result of the church’s negligence.

“Full disclosure – I was an acolyte in a Lutheran Church growing up,” writes Marler. “Not only is there no legal reason for Nebraska Beef to sue the church in this instance – my mom (age 80) and dad (age 78) would have killed me if I had.”

We checked in with Gary Gordon of Minneapolis’s McCollum Crowley, the firm representing Nebraska Beef. “This has nothing to do with religion and the activities of Salem Lutheran as a church,” he explained. “We’re looking at them as a restaurant because they are undertaking to provide food to people.” He added: “We have no doubt that the members of the church are great Lutherans, but are they great cooks?”

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